Artist's Statement on larger collection, from which this image is taken:
I chose to examine the label pessimist. Even though I enjoy having fun and consider myself to be a mostly positive person, people have often told me that I can bring out the worst of a situation, that I seem to focus on only the bad of a situation. I personally think of myself as a realist, but agree that I can be obsessed with negativity at times. I chose to use the English Oxford Dictionary’s philosophical definition of pessimist.
“A person who believes that this world is as bad as it could be or that evil will ultimately prevail over good.”
-The Oxford Living English Dictionary
This definition seemed to resonate with me. It embodies some of the anxiety that I experience in my pessimistic episodes, however, it does not explain what that person does with pessimistic beliefs. Many of my beliefs and tendencies stem from nihilism. Over the years I have embraced my own personal philosophy on the matter. I understand that many of my beliefs are that of a nihilist, yet I embrace the empowerment of nothingness, and the opportunity that existential freedom gives me. I now consider myself to be an existential nihilist.
My collages are meant to appear dark and depressing on the surface, but hold some optimistic deeper meaning. It is meant to reflect how society can miss-interpret conscious concerns of a realist as the ramblings of a pessimist. Even though I have selected the word pessimist, my piece is tailored to inspire, despite the dark appearances. I have also arranged them in a way that depicts my growth throughout the years.
All of the images I have used are from the Flickr commons page, which I found to be particularly useful. The bulk of editing was done in Photoshop. Photoshop was particularly useful on the piece with the lettering across the man’s face. The text editor has an arch function that was made for my project. Below is a screen shot of my workspace during that project.
Author's Statement on "The Fountain":
The Fountain is a movie about a man whose wife is dying. In his struggle to reconcile her passing, he learns the secret to eternal life, and travels to the nebula of a dying star on the prophetic word of his late wife hundreds of years after her death. As he arrives, the star explodes and vaporizes him. As he is eradicated, he appears to have a moment of enlightenment. What I got out of the movie was that in subconsciously accepting his death by going to a star, he realized that life was fleeting, and that he would eventually be reunited with his wife, in one form or another. The water in this picture is meant to represent the trials and knowledge of life, while the sun represents life force. The life force is illuminating the waves of life, revealing to the viewer the current landscape, and the landscape to come. The dark background is meant to represent the oxford definition given in the artists statement. The darkens is all encompassing and seems to be much larger than the ocean. The omission of anything but the water is meant to show the vastness of life. We know that space is unfathomably large, so even though this picture is split down the middle, it appears that the blackness of space is dominating. The black is meant to represent the negativity and evil in the world. The faded image of an owl is meant to be symbolic. The owl is symbolic of knowledge, and is present in the darkness. This is representative of the knowledge given to us when we choose to embrace and understand the dark parts of life, going along with the theme explored in the fountain. The dots of stars represent truths that we find in the dark. Even though the piece is comprised of mainly dark colors, it still seems hopeful.
